American billionaire and Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban has now shared a new message for the fresh graduates: skip the big corporations and head to small and medium sized businesses. In a post shared on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) Cuban argued that small companies are the place where fresh graduates can add most value mainly by them in adopting AI agents. “New grads can teach SMBs how to use agents to optimize processes they couldn’t take the time or afford to do manually,” Cuban wrote. “Big companies don’t need new grads for this. Entrepreneurial companies will love the value you add.”
Why AI agents matter
AI agents are autonomous digital assistants capable of completing tasks end-to-end without constant user prompts. They’re increasingly seen as transformative for business operations:
- A Jellyfish study found adoption of agentic AI among 400 companies jumped from 50% in December 2024 to 82% in May 2025.
- Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang declared earlier this year that “the age of agentic AI is here.”
- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman likened AI agents to “junior employees.”
- Morgan Stanley projects AI shopping agents could add $115 billion to U.S. e-commerce by 2030.
Cuban believes this is precisely where new graduates can step in, teaching smaller firms how to integrate AI agents into workflows they previously lacked the resources to optimize.
Mark Cuban advice young engineers to not go behind big companies
Recently, Cuban urged the young engineers entering the job market to prioritise small and medium-sized companies over multinational corporations (MNCs) when seeking opportunities in artificial intelligence (AI). Cuban feels that smaller companies offer better platform for new graduates to make an immediate impact, while large corporations often dilute individual contributions.Speaking in an interview with CNBC and on his podcast The Dumbest Guy in the Room, Cuban explained that smaller companies are mainly entrepreneur-driven and they lack the deep IT departments or larger corporations. This gap creates opportunities for fresh graduates which directly contribute to the AI projects. “Small- to medium-size companies don’t have that depth. They are typically entrepreneurially driven and don’t have the flexibility to have people research things. Bringing a new graduate on to work on agentic AI projects is inexpensive for them and can get them immediate results,” Cuban said.Cuban also used the example of his own company, Cost Plus Drugs, noting how AI can automate processes to boost productivity, competitiveness, and profitability.
